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The worst trap...
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After the fiasco with the attempted Catholic revolt, Bavaria had to change the strategy; instead of trying to weaken Bohemia by stirring up rebellions, it would try to break the country with an economic blockade. To do that, Bavaria took advantage of holding the Europe’s most important trading center – Venice – which was captured and annexed during the wars with the merchant republic a decade earlier.
Bohemian economy was traditionally dependent on silver mining in Kutná Hora (Kuttenberg) [1], which was in decline by the half of the 15th century due to exhaustion of the mines. In order to prevent the devaluation of groš [2], Bohemia had to obtain hard currency by means of foreign trade; in exchange for Bohemian goods it was receiving gold and silver coins which were preventing the inflation from ever becoming a serious problem [3]. Though this was a sound economic policy which contributed a great deal to the prosperity of the country in the first half of the 15th century, it made Bohemia vulnerable to foreign economic pressure.
Therefore, when Bavaria closed Venice for Bohemian trade [4] it was a big problem for Bohemia. Without trading there, its vulnerable economy could collapse. This would, as the Bavarians had hoped, force Bohemia to declare war on Bavaria in an attempt to re-open the trade center for their merchants. A declaration of war issued by heretics against a good Catholic country would surely be the last straw for Catholics all over Europe – they would unite behind Bavaria in a crusade to get rid of the heretic threat. This way, Bavarian ruler would gain the support in needed to become the next Holy Roman Emperor and he wouldn’t have to worry about possible ramifications of invasion into Bohemia without a proper casus belli.
“This means war!” was the first thought that crossed Ladislav’s mind when he heard about the Bavarian embargo. Fortunately for his country, the aging monarch was very intelligent and like his father he understood well the intricacies of diplomacy and foreign policy. The move was obviously a provocation and Ladislav I had no intention to give the Bavarians what they wanted. On the other hand, he had to do something before the economy starts feeling the consequences of the embargo. So Ladislav realized that the war in the shadow of which he had been living for so long has finally come, but “if the Bavarians want a war, they’ll have to declare it themselves!” he concluded.
And so in the official reply to Bavarian duke, Ladislav denounced him as a puppet with strings leading all the way to Rome and called him a coward who like a woman dances around a problem instead of being a man who resolves disputes honorably and openly. The duke of Bavaria, unlike the Bohemian king, wasn’t known for his cunning and self-control. In a moment of rage which followed after reading Ladislav’s letter, he issued an order to gather troops and declared war on Bohemia – and he made the terrible mistake of doing it in front of a room full of foreign ambassadors waiting for audience, so even if he had wanted to take it back after he calmed down, he couldn’t. After all, he declared the war to protect his honor, so backing off would mean a great humiliation in the eyes of other rulers. Only later he realized that he got caught in his own trap [5].
Note the claims Bohemia has on Slovakia and Thuringia
Had Ladislav I declared war on Bavaria, he would have found himself in war with most of Europe, but when he tricked the Bavarian ruler to declare war first, he ensured that only the immediate and most loyal allies of Bavaria would join the war on its side which gave Bohemia a chance to win. But by far the most important thing was that this skillful move got him an important ally – His Majesty Albrecht IV Achilles, the Margrave of Brandenburg and Holy Roman Emperor. Despite it looks strange and even absurd that the Emperor – a protector of Catholic faith and the Papacy - allied himself with denounced heretics, a short discursion into the foreign affairs of Brandenburg will shed some light on his motivation.
Bohemia is a bit outnumbered...
The position of the margrave depended on the support of the Reich electors, one of which was the king of Bohemia. At first, Brandenburg enjoyed almost unanimous support, but after a series of devastating wars with Denmark which repeatedly tried to gain control over Hanseatic League and the imperial city of Lübeck, Brandenburg was exhausted and the prestige of the Emperor, whose main duty was to protect Holy Roman Empire from foreign aggression, was badly damaged. It was an open secret that Bavaria had the ambition to seize the crown for itself, so the Margrave-Emperor’s advisors became even more worried about their ruler’s standing in the Empire. Albrecht IV himself was no admirer of Hussitism; in fact, he was contemplating an intervention against Bohemia during the Hussite conversion of Lusatia years ago. Like most contemporary Europeans, he believed that Hussitism was a heresy and an abomination in the eyes of God, but on the other hand it was the vote of the king of these heretics which ensured that the crown stayed in Brandenburg [6].
Therefore, when Bavaria and its allies declared war on Bohemia, Albrecht IV chose interests of his dynasty over interests of the head of his Church. Brandenburg’s entry into the war on Bohemian side then effectively dissuaded other HRE states from intervention. In the 1st Hussite War, the Catholic League consisting of Bavaria, Görz, Lorraine, Aquileia and Milan would fight against the unholy alliance of Ladislav I, the King of Bohemia and Albrecht IV Achilles, the Margrave of Brandenburg and Holy Roman Emperor.
The main alliances on the eve of 1st Hussite War
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[1] At its height, it provided about 30% of Europe’s supply of silver. This helped Bohemia to achieve a sort of major power status under the Luxembourg dynasty in the 14th century.
[2] Silver groš (groschen) was the most widespread currency in Bohemia in that time, if I am not mistaken. It was later replaced by silver Thaler (tolar) from which the US dollar took its name.
[3] In Magna Mundi, just as in vanilla game, gold/silver mines give you some minimum inflation. The problem with MM is that inflation is a REALLY nasty thing you don’t want to see or hear about, ever. Since you can’t get rid of it unless you hire a decent Master of Mint advisor or adopt National Bank or Bureaucracy as the national idea, the best thing you can do is to prevent it from accumulating in the first place. This can be done by trading: once you obtain a good source of income from trade, you reduce your reliance on the silver mines and thus stop the inflation from appearing at 0% mint.
[4] Yup, they issued an embargo against me and it actually did hurt me! Sometimes, the AI surprises you... usually in a way you don’t like
[5] There is a new spy mission in Magna Mundi, which you can use to trick your neighbour to declare war on you, if many (many!) conditions are met and you have a lot of ducats to pay for it. I was lucky.
[6] Hey, I had to explain it somehow! It’s not
that implausible, just look at what Emperor Sigismund did in OTL, when he needed to get the Bohemian estates to agree with his coronation – he simply made deal with the Hussites because it was in his interests. In my alternate reality, Brandenburg wants to defeat Bavarian ambitions to become Emperor. Sure, in short term allying with the Hussites would harm Brandenburg’s reputation, but in the long term, humiliation of the main contender for the crown would serve its interests. Plus, I don’t expect much from my new “ally”, a distraction at best.